Gordon Tech partnering with DePaul to boost curriculum, enrollment

As a number of parochial schools struggle to stay open, a Catholic high school on the North Side is expected to announce Wednesday an unprecedented partnership with the nation’s largest Catholic university to boost its enrollment and curriculum.

Gordon Tech, a co-ed school in the Irving Park neighborhood where about 32 percent of students are at or below the poverty level, has struck an agreement with DePaul University that aims to double enrollment and strengthen its college preparatory curriculum.

It would be the only such partnership in Chicago, and one of a few in the nation, to help the neediest Catholic schools.

“DePaul is a harbinger of this change,” said Joshua Hale, executive director of the Big Shoulders Fund, a non-profit that supports Catholic schools in Chicago’s neediest areas. “Universities are taking a much more active role and becoming real laboratories. There could be a lot of best practices developed there.”

Founded in 1952 by the Congregation of the Resurrection religious order, Gordon Tech’s enrollment has climbed from 434 to 540 in the past year when parochial schools across the country have been struggling.

Kelly Jones, president of Gordon Tech, said the partnership doesn’t come with any pledges of financial resources. But she expects the non-monetary resources such as access to faculty and campus facilities to enable the school to raise more funds.

“Having the largest Catholic university as a partner allows Gordon Tech to build on their recent success in ways they could not have been able to do on their own,” said Rob Karpinski, DePaul’s director of Catholic School Initiatives.

He said the Chicago Archdiocese specifically asked DePaul to help on the city's North Side, where parents investing in Catholic grade schools have become increasingly frustrated with the highly competitive nature of the Chicago Public Schools' selective enrollment for high schools and the lack of Catholic options.

Karpinski acknowledged that families across the city struggle with selective enrollment.

Jones noted that Gordon Tech offers bus service to any students who don’t mind a commute from the South or West sides of the city.